Overview

In this extraordinary blend of military history and contemporary travelogue, Richard Holmes recounts his journey tracing the route along which the British retreated and the Germans advanced during one of the most dramatic military episodes of the First World War. The retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Mons in the early months of the First World War is one of the great dramas of European history. Blending his recreation of the military campaign with contemporary testimony and an account of his own ride over the route, Richard Holmes takes the reader on a unique journey - to glimpse the summer the old world ended.

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9781845951092

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The retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Mons in August 1914 marked one of the two occasions on which we nearly lost the First World War through a military defeat in the field... Richard Holmes, has had the idea of riding with four friends along the route of the retreat, from Mons to the Marne where the German advance was stopped at the start of September. His ride, like the campaign of August 1914, took place in scorching weather and he passed through still recognisable battlefields and cemeteries of distracting sadness. The author tells two stories in parallel: that of his own journey and a first-rate account of what happened eighty years before. -- Max Egremont Evening Standard A book that amuses yet haunts, brisk at one moment, melancholy the next... an effortless blend of past and present. -- Michael Sheridan Independent on Sunday Succeeds admirably in both parts: the travelogue weaves in and out, giving welcome relief from the sweat and fear, the sleeplessness, the fearful wounds and the killing... Masterly. -- The Marquess Of Anglesey Daily Telegraph

His ride, like the campaign of August 1914, took place in scorching weather, passing through still-recognizable battlefields and cemeteries of distracting sadness. The author tells two stories in parallel: that of his own journey and a first-rate account of what happened eighty years before. <br>- Max Egremont, Evening Standard <br>.,. an effortless blend of past and present. <br>- Independent on Sunday

Author Information

Richard Holmes is Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and the University of Reading, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. A celebrated military historian, Richard Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat- The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal- Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Riding the Retreat, The Second World War in Photographs and Firing Line (also published by Pimlico). He is general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including 'War Walks', 'The Western Front' and 'Battlefields', and is famous for his hugely successful series 'Wellington- The Iron Duke' and 'Rebels and Redcoats'.

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